Tarnished Chrome: How to fix Lincoln (Part 1)

What do you envision when thinking of Ford's Lincoln brand? The Town Car that picked you up from the airport last week? The Navigator on 20" rims that bumps around with its music too loud? The champagne-colored Continental doing 10 under the speed limit in the fast lane?

With the Ford brand now turned around under the excellent guidance of CEO Alan Mulally, top brass have turned their attention to the long-neglected Lincoln lineup. In 2010, they announced that the Mercury brand was being phased out (a wise move, Mercury hadn't been relevant in the marketplace since the Nixon administration), and former Lincoln/Mercury dealers would have to sustain themselves with Lincoln alone.

This significant drop in volume has been enough to close several smaller dealerships, and that's exactly what Ford had in mind. The Lincoln dealer channel was multiple times larger than competing brands, and the company would prefer Lincoln dealers focus on competing with the competition instead of each other.

So, what's wrong with Lincoln? It's more than a product problem, a marketing problem, or a brand awareness problem. The issue is an obvious lack of vision on those who have been running the brand over the last decade.

Lincoln's weakness doesn't lie solely in its product. While the Navigator and MKS sedan are begging for a redesign, the MKX crossover and MKZ sedan have been newly freshened and are very competitive. While the MKT features, ahem, "questionable" styling, its interior features, design, and quality are best in class.

Lincoln's weakness doesn't lie solely in its marketing. The advertising over the last few years has done a good job setting a tone of high tech energy, using a fast-paced sequence set to catchy techno music.

Lincoln's weakness doesn't lie solely in brand awareness. People know Lincoln exists, and knows that to some extent they make luxury cars. They'll probably remember the Navigator, or maybe the limo their kids took to prom. People know that Lincoln is out there, but they don't know what they stand for. The reason? The folks running Lincoln don't seem to know what they stand for, either.

Vision: The manner in which one sees or conceives of something.
Lincoln has several strong products, with luxurious interiors and sharp design. But what do those products have to do with the techno-filled CG advertisements? Sure, Lincoln has had the SYNC system standard since 2008, and they're rolling out the new MyLincoln Touch interface with the new MKX, but those identical features are available on Ford models that cost half as much.

Once the poll (to the right, if you haven't voted) closes tomorrow, I'll go further into the direction I think Lincoln should go. But before they sketch a single design, layout a single interior, or storyboard a single advertisement, they need to figure out what exactly they stand for.

Do they want to be seen as a lineup of sumptuous, luxurious cars and crossovers filled with plush leather, rich woods, and enough sound deadening to make a first-grade teacher weep?

Do they want to be seen as a technological powerhouse, featuring technologically advanced engines, computer controlled everything, and digital driver interface that separates them from the more lowly Fords?

Do they want to be seen as a sporting brand, with special attention paid to weight, handling, and design?

What we've been told so far about Lincoln's future involves computer-controlled variable suspensions, full length glass roofs, and unique tophats from their Ford counterparts. That all sounds well and good, but those are features, not anything resembling a brand vision.

I've witnessed what the same team was able to do with the Ford brand, and I have no doubts in their abilities to fix Lincoln. I just hope that when they finish their work, people notice.

Thoughts?